There is an opportunity for partnership with local authorities, to embed interventions directly into cancer clinical pathways. Making Every Contact Count (MECC) ensures that messages of prevention are used as an everyday opportunity for everyone who is referred on a suspected cancer pathway, to reduce future cancer risk.

Regardless of who they are or where they live, we will try to ensure that everyone can benefit from knowledge and opportunity to prevent cancer where possible.

To do this, we will:

1. Embed Very Brief Advice (VBA) on healthy life choices into our clinical pathways.
2. Support people to actively improve their health and wellbeing, to reduce risk of developing diseases, including cancer, in the future.
3. Target the areas with the highest smoking rates in Wessex to increase
   awareness of, and access to local stop smoking services.
4. Reduce the risk of cervical cancer by meeting the target to increase Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination uptake.
5. Consider the impact of air quality on system-wide resource allocation and planning.
6. Continue to embed genetic testing in our clinical pathways to ensure those at higher risk of a future cancer are identified and supported to make choices to reduce that risk.

Cancer remains the single biggest reason for years of life lost in the UK, accounting for over one in three of all years of life lost, more than the next three causes of death added together. Earlier diagnosis of cancer improves survival, reduces treatment burden, and provides the best opportunity for positive outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.

Across Wessex we will continue and step up our multi-agency ‘every effort’ collaboration to detect 75% cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028

We will continue to increase the percentage of new cancers diagnosed at an early stage. To achieve this, we will focus on:

1. Improving stage of diagnosis, prioritising the tumour types where earlier
   stage has the greatest impact on survival.
2. Improving pathway effectiveness and efficiency to make earlier diagnosis
   as simple as possible.
3. Increasing awareness of cancer signs and symptoms among our
   population, targeting communities with latest stage of diagnosis.
4. Improving access to, and uptake of screening and diagnostic tests for
   cancer, prioritising areas of lowest uptake and latest stage of diagnosis.

We need to ensure people receive a timely and definitive diagnosis. We will continue our work to ensure that confirmation or exclusion of a cancer diagnosis should take a maximum of 28 days from referral to diagnosis for at least 85% of people by 2030. 

To improve accessibility and ensure our population have timely access to the right care, in the right place, at the right time we will:

1. Improve appropriate diagnostic testing and shared decision making for
   people, with a focus on frailty.
2. Provide clear information and offer decision support tools for some
   common cancers, to support health seeking behaviour, applying the latest technology (wearables, self-testing, artificial intelligence (AI)), genomics and cancer blood tests.
3. Continue to develop community diagnostic services, ensuring access is as close to home as possible.
4. Work with teams delivering diagnostic services to help predict the changes in cancer diagnostic demand and ensure there is enough equipment and staff to meet the needs of our population.

We will ensure further recovery of services to begin treatment within 62 days of referral for at least 85% of patients on a suspected cancer pathway.

We describe our approach to treating patients with cancer in terms of:

1. What it will feel like for patients.
2. Best possible treatment options.
3. Right workforce, right place, right skills.

We are responsible for planning cancer services to provide the best outcomes and experience for our population, while ensuring our systems achieve financial balance.

In order to achieve this, Wessex system partners will ensure equitable access to high quality care for our population, making best use of our funding to provide sustainable services, fit for the future.

We will deliver this aim through our roles and responsibilities in commissioning cancer services for our population, as ICS and Cancer Alliance in partnership, enabling value for money and best possible, equitable patient experience and outcomes.

The number of opportunities patients have in accessing innovative tests and treatments is declining ^{O’Shaughnessy Review (2023)}, following a reduction in the number of research trials being delivered.

We will increase the number of people in Wessex who will benefit from both research and the adoption of innovations to improve cancer outcomes.

To do this, we focus on achieving three outcomes:

1. Increase the number of research trials in Wessex, and access to them.
2. Support teams to adopt innovations in cancer pathways which have demonstrated an improvement in patient outcomes.
3. Champion the need for increasing the capacity of clinical staff to support an increase in the number of research trials and innovation pilots delivered across Wessex.

In anticipation of the forthcoming NHS National Cancer Strategy, we believe there will be a growing need to support access to both research and innovation adoption across all cancer pathways, and we are making this a priority over the next five years.